~ Philosophies on life, love and loss from a bemused 40-something

Hide and Seek

Rainy days and Mondays. We got two for the price of one in the northeast today, creating the perfect environment for this home-body. Typical of my sign, Cancer, I find great comfort in home and family, and don’t mind being indoors all day. In fact, my husband and I joke that I’m an indoor cat and he’s the outdoor cat. I guess opposites do attract; he’s also a morning lover whereas I can barely get myself out of bed before the kids are off to school.

Days like this create the perfect environment for a game of Hide and Seek, so when I heard my son and his two friends actually put down the XBox controls and come up with the idea to play Hide and Seek in the house, I felt a wave of nostalgia (before the worry for my personal belongings set in). I immediately flash-backed to rainy afternoons as a child in Pennsylvania where we lived at the top of a new 70s colonial development ripe with children. Though we lived there not even two years, it plays a large part in my childhood memories of neighbors, friends and warm, happy times.

I’ve always loved to play Hide and Seek, but I much prefer to be the hider. Back to that crab again, I must retreat into my shell for comfort and peace. I remember being at school or social events with big groups (not my preferred environment), feeling like I wanted to sneak under the desk in the corner. I thought for sure no one would miss me and I could just hang out, silently observing the goings on around me… silent and hidden from the outside but always seeking understanding and comfort on the inside.